Yosemite National Park closes due to wildfire, visitor center shut down

A wildfire has caused a popular California tourist attraction, The Yosemite National Park, to close today. According to a report by USA Today, Park officials began asking visitors to leave Yosemite Valley yesterday, because they are closing the area’s main road today. Tourists won't be able to go to the park until the fire settles down and it's safe.

July is typically a busy month for Yosemite, drawing nearly 600,000 tourists.

The fire will temporality stop people from entering the park, thus making it less crowded than it usually is during July.

Park reservations canceled

As the park will be closed, any reservations made for the park will be canceled. According to a report by Fox News, at least a thousand campground and hotel reservations will be canceled after the park announced it will close today. The park will officially close at noon.

Fire ruins vacations, businesses

According to USA Today, ”the closure applies to all hotels, campgrounds, and visitor services in Yosemite Valley.” This will force many planned vacations to be scrapped and put on hold until the fire is contained.

Ron Skelton, owner of the Yosemite Blue Butterfly Inn said, ”I’m going to lose $20,000, and that's money I’ll never see again,” according to a report by USA Today. He further added, ”we’re completely shut down.”

According to USA Today, while taking pictures, visitor Brad Lyons said, ”When we saw that the visitor’s center was closed, we knew it had to be bad." Many visitors besides Lyons, probably noticed this as well and knew that something serious had to have happened to close down the visitor center.

Fire moving rapidly

According to a report by Fox News, ”flames have passed through 57 square miles of timber in the Sierra Nevada, west of Yosemite.” The fire is expanding and was only 25 percent contained yesterday morning.

Depending upon how long it takes to put out, the fire will determine when the Yosemite will re-open to the public. There have been several evacuations in communities around the area, and some people have been warned to leave if necessary. These evacuations will continue as the fire spreads.

There was a fire in California's wine country late last year, which destroyed a lot of land. Now, California is dealing with another wildfire in Yosemite, which is currently expanding and doesn't look like it will stop any time soon. Firemen are on the scene and they have been working diligently to fully contain the fire.